Mizzou cross country opened its season with a pair of wins at the Mizzou XC Opener on Friday morning at Gans Creek Cross Country Course, home of the 2025 NCAA Cross Country Championships.

The Tiger women tallied 19 points to beat Arkansas, Saint Louis and Wisconsin, while the men notched 26 points to claim the victory over Saint Louis, Oregon and Wisconsin.

Junior Suzy Lecoutre took the course by storm with a winning run of 17:04.2, while senior Drew Rogers paced the men with a 14:48.1 finish.

"I think everyone looks super composed," Missouri cross country coach Kyle Levermore said. "I think they all felt really good. They started to feel a little bit of grind in the last 1k which is what I was hoping. All in all, I thought they executed well and I thought we're kind of on schedule for where we need to be."

The race marked Lecoutre's Missouri debut after transferring from Swansea University in the UK. Freshman Kobi Walker earned third with a time of 17:15.7. Her teammates joined her in the next three spots on the leaderboard.

Senior Drew Rogers dominated the men's race, punching in a 14:48.1 to lead the way for the Black and Gold. After Rogers crossed the line, sophomore Carter Spradling, running unattached, finished one second later to lock in second place. 

"No matter what I tell Drew, he's always going to be a competitor," Levermore said. "He's always going to go for the win."

TOP TIGERS

• In the first NCAA 5k run at Gans Creek, Rogers topped the leaderboard for the men's slate as he finished in 14:48.1.
• Spradling recorded a time of 14:49.9 to claim second.
• Lecoutre claimed the title for the women's campaign with a time of 17:04.2 and finished with a ten second gap between her second place opponent.
• Walker clocked in a time of 17:15.7 to earn Missouri another top-three finish.

MEN'S 5K RESULTS – 1st Place (26 points, 1-3-4-7-11)

Drew Rogers, 14:48.1 // Carter Spradling (UNA), 14:49.9 // Ryder James (UNA), 14:55.0 // Joshua Allison, 14:56.0 // Tyler Freiner, 15:01.4 // Louie Endres (UNA), 15:02.9 // Austin Popplewell (UNA), 15:04.1 // Raymond Kipkoech, 15:14.4 // Declan Tunney, 15:16.9 // Joseph Bariola (UNA), 15:17.8 // Finnian Russell, 15:20.3

WOMEN'S 5K RESULTS – 1st Place (19 points, 1-3-4-5-6)

Suzy Lecoutre, 17:04.2 // Kobi Walker, 17:15.7 // Rahel Broemel, 17:15.7 // Natalie Barnard, 17:19.1 // Charlotte Cullen, 17:34.1 // Allison Newman, 17:40.6 // Teegan Anderson, 17:52.3 // Maleah Eggers, 17:58.8 // Elissa Barnard, 18:01.9 // Lily Ginsberg, 18:17.7

UP NEXT

The Tigers hit the road to Lincoln, Neb. to compete in the Greeno Dirksen Cross Country Invite on Sept. 20.

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